All Work and No Time for You

Women — especially mothers — often begin their work day at 6 a.m. in the home, put in 8 hours in the office and then work at home until they drop exhausted but worried into bed at midnight. In addition to stresses such as a demanding job, challenging family situations, or overwhelming debt, many women deal with a level of chronic, grinding stress of constant work throughout their waking hours.

If this comes close to describing you, read on to learn how to take radically better care of yourself! Good self-care can diminish the wearing stress of all work and no play.

Bounce Back with Radical Self-Care

Taking radically good care of yourself will build resilience — your bounce back factor! — and decrease stress levels in the process.

Write these statements on your forehead!

• I deserve to take care of myself.
• When I care for myself, I have more to give to others.

Jump Start Your PlanNow, here is a way to jump-start your plan for radical self-nurturing and stress relief.

List 20 Ways You Can Nurture Yourself

As fast as you can, make a list of at least 20 ways you can nurture and care for yourself. Be creative! Think of things that would please you immensely, or simply help you feel contented for a few minutes. Think of things that would help you be calm, have inner peace, or just have fun!

Remember the times of greatest contentment, happiness and joy in your life. Whatever you were doing then could contribute to personal peace, love, satisfaction and less stress now. What would make you feel good about yourself and your life? What would support you physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually?

Examples

A single mom in my office works out vigorously for about twenty minutes three times a day. She swears this method of caring for herself has saved her sanity through a grueling, stressful divorce.

Instead of ironing your teenager’s clothes at 10 p.m., maybe you need a hot bath with a glass of wine. Or an hour with your favorite soothing music, or an evening or an hour to yourself. Do you need an artist’s date once a week to nurture your creativity (as Julia Cameron suggests in The Artist’s Way)? Do you need to sing outrageously happy songs while you drive?

Radical Self-Care Is Habit-Forming

OK, get busy and put a few of your ideas into action. Notice how you feel afterward. Less irritated and frustrated? Less stressed? More energized and enthusiastic? More loving and peaceful? Take heed. Radical self-care is habit-forming! You’ll want to do it regularly to lighten up your life and increase your personal peace quotient.